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By: Channing Cummins The Red Wings became the victims of fatigue Wednesday night as they took on the Minnesota Wild. The two teams met last Thursday, which resulted in Drew Miller getting a shootout goal in the eigth round to give the Wings their only win in the last seven games. This game, however, wasn't as kind for the Wings as they were defeated 5-2 in Minnesota.

In net for the Wings was Chris Osgood who has been kept out of the lineup recently due to Jimmy Howard's strong play. This was his second start in eight days and his last win came on December 12.

The first period seemed to pick up where the Wings left off yesterday, after taking on the Phoenix Coyotes. Nearly three minutes into the game, Antti Miettinen provided the Wild with their first goal, which came on the powerplay. Pavel Datsyuk answered with a goal of his own less than two minutes later to tie the game up early.

As the period dragged on the Wings began to show signs of physical and mental fatigue. Turnovers were being made and a lack of effort was definitely present.

Miettinen got things going for the Wild with his second goal of the period, which came with just over three minutes left. Once again, Datsyuk had an answer of his own, tying the game up 27 seconds later. His goal showed some skill as he was able to tip a shot from the point, which was a few feet from the ice. 26 seconds later the Wild would retain the lead as Andrew Ebbett was able to beat Osgood high, glove side. The Wild's three goals came on only six shots and proved to be enough to seal the win.

After the second period went goal less the third period provided the remaining two goals. Guillaume Latendresse was able to beat Osgood with a one-timer on a four on four opportunity. Martin Havlat would score just over a minute later on the power play, putting the puck into an open net after getting in behind the defense.

Needless to say the Red Wings provided a poor performance on Wednesday. In fact, the team is 3-4-3 in the last ten games and are starting to run out of excuses. A majority of the players have returned and the others will be returning soon. This will put the team in a tough position when they have to clear roster spots for Franzen, Williams and Holmstrom. With the third and fourth liners playing some of their best hockey, the Wings will have to make some tough decisions here in the next few weeks.

After the loss the Wings fell into the ninth spot in the conference and the Wild remain three points behind the Wings. With only ten points seperating 3rd and 12th place, the teams should be focusing on playing their best hockey. It's not what we're seeing in Detroit, so something needs to change.

The Red Wings will take on the Nashville Predators at the Joe on Friday. Currently the Preds are two points ahead of the Wings and it appears to be another crucial game for Detroit.